China

Wealth raises more attractiveness of males than females: study

2018-02-13 09:17:39

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Latest research shows economic status raises the attractiveness of males more than females, based on an experiment jointly conducted by scientists from China, the United States and Britain.

In the experiment, scientists presented pictures of males and females and asked volunteers rate their attractiveness from 1 to 9, according to a paper published in Evolution and Human Behavior, an academic journal covering research that brings evolutionary perspectives to the study of human behavior.

After the first round, scientists from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology under Chinese Academy of Sciences and their foreign partners added the salary information to the pictures and asked the volunteers rate them again.

The results, which were the same among Chinese, American and European volunteers, showed the scores of people with higher salaries increased and those with lower salaries dropped. More interestingly, for males to earn an average rating two points higher, their annual salaries had to increase 10-fold, while females' salaries had to increase 10,000-fold for their rating to rise the same amount.

"It indicates that higher economic status can offset lower physical attractiveness in men much more easily than in women," the paper said.

It partly explains the different means of courtship in males and females. While it is more efficient for a man to reveal abundant wealth in order to win the heart of a woman, this might not work when their roles are reversed.

Another ramification, according to the paper, is that the distinction may pose a barrier for men to adopt a low-consumption lifestyle. Unlike men, women are more inclined to bargain and buy cheap goods, as wealth does not play a crucial role in their attractiveness.

It suggests more efforts be targeted at men to encourage them to consume more low-cost reusable products while not violating their hope to attract a partner.